Ugandans working abroad send $1b home each year
Jan 29, 2007
UGANDA receives close to $1b (sh1.8 trillion) in immigrant remittances per year, deputy premier Henry Kajura has said.<br>And the 630 Ugandans working in Iraq are sending home more than $8.2m (about sh14.8b) year, he revealed.
By Sylvia Juuko
UGANDA receives close to $1b (sh1.8 trillion) in immigrant remittances per year, deputy premier Henry Kajura has said.
And the 630 Ugandans working in Iraq are sending home more than $8.2m (about sh14.8b) year, he revealed.
The Ugandan presence in Iraq has been a source of controversy ever since it began in May 2005 because of concerns about their safety. The deputy premier noted that while the exported semi-skilled labour specialises in shunned and low paying jobs, it has created a source of livelihood for their families.
Kajura was yesterday officially launching the World Bank’s publication ‘World Development Report (WDR) 2007: Development and the next generation,’ at Serena conference hall.
However, Kajura pointed out that the export of labour was a temporary measure. “The sustainable basis for employment creation and poverty reduction is through industrial development, especially agricultural modernisation,†he stated.
Kajura’s main theme was that the Word Bank report was timely because it focuses on the youth, a portion of Uganda’s population that needs urgent attention. He stated that the youth not only bear the brunt of problems like AIDS, armed conflicts and poverty, but also carry the burden of unemployment and underemployment.
“Young men and women…. comprise more than 50% of the labour force. The percentage is growing at the rate of 3.4% per annum, thus resulting in 390,000 new job seekers, yet about 8,120 new jobs are available each year,†he noted.
He suggested that investment in education and training was crucial in increasing employment opportunities for the youth. He said the Government has put in place policy interventions to minimise the plight of young people.
The World Bank report warns that governments need to focus policies and investment on people aged 12-24, whose global population has peaked 1.5 billion.
“The need to address youth issues now is also rooted in demographics-because of the fiscal demands of the sheer number of today’s young and their share in the future labour force,†the report says.
Judy O’Connor is the World Bank country director for Tanzania and Uganda.
She said that while school enrolment rates had improved in Uganda compared to other African countries, the quality of the education and completion of studies in schools were critical. She pledged the bank’s support for youth programmes.
Emmanuel Y. Jimenes, the report’s director, said young people’s decisions during five transitional points in their lives — learning, working, developing a healthy lifestyle, beginning a family and exercising citizenship — were key to poverty reduction and development.
UGANDA receives close to $1b (sh1.8 trillion) in immigrant remittances per year, deputy premier Henry Kajura has said.
And the 630 Ugandans working in Iraq are sending home more than $8.2m (about sh14.8b) year, he revealed.
The Ugandan presence in Iraq has been a source of controversy ever since it began in May 2005 because of concerns about their safety. The deputy premier noted that while the exported semi-skilled labour specialises in shunned and low paying jobs, it has created a source of livelihood for their families.
Kajura was yesterday officially launching the World Bank’s publication ‘World Development Report (WDR) 2007: Development and the next generation,’ at Serena conference hall.
However, Kajura pointed out that the export of labour was a temporary measure. “The sustainable basis for employment creation and poverty reduction is through industrial development, especially agricultural modernisation,†he stated.
Kajura’s main theme was that the Word Bank report was timely because it focuses on the youth, a portion of Uganda’s population that needs urgent attention. He stated that the youth not only bear the brunt of problems like AIDS, armed conflicts and poverty, but also carry the burden of unemployment and underemployment.
“Young men and women…. comprise more than 50% of the labour force. The percentage is growing at the rate of 3.4% per annum, thus resulting in 390,000 new job seekers, yet about 8,120 new jobs are available each year,†he noted.
He suggested that investment in education and training was crucial in increasing employment opportunities for the youth. He said the Government has put in place policy interventions to minimise the plight of young people.
The World Bank report warns that governments need to focus policies and investment on people aged 12-24, whose global population has peaked 1.5 billion.
“The need to address youth issues now is also rooted in demographics-because of the fiscal demands of the sheer number of today’s young and their share in the future labour force,†the report says.
Judy O’Connor is the World Bank country director for Tanzania and Uganda.
She said that while school enrolment rates had improved in Uganda compared to other African countries, the quality of the education and completion of studies in schools were critical. She pledged the bank’s support for youth programmes.
Emmanuel Y. Jimenes, the report’s director, said young people’s decisions during five transitional points in their lives — learning, working, developing a healthy lifestyle, beginning a family and exercising citizenship — were key to poverty reduction and development.